


Of Princess, Pirates, and Dragons

by StBridget



Series: The Spies and the Baby [5]
Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Family, Gen, Halloween Costumes, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-11 04:13:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16468502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StBridget/pseuds/StBridget
Summary: It's Kelly's first Halloween.  Mac and Jack have a bit of a disagreement on costumes.





	Of Princess, Pirates, and Dragons

**Author's Note:**

> MacGyver is property of CBS and its creators.
> 
> What can I say? It had to be done. :)

“Here it is!” Jack exclaimed, reaching for the costume he’d just spotted. He held up the frilly, pink princess dress. “It’s perfect!”

 

Mac took one look and put his foot down. “Absolutely not. How many times have I told you we are not tying Kelly to heteronormative stereotypes?”

 

“But she looks great in pink!” Jack whined.

 

“No pink, and that’s final,” Mac said, firmly.

 

“Okay,” Jack said, much too easily for Mac’s taste. The younger man was immediately suspicious. “No pink. How about Belle? Or Snow White?”

 

Mac was afraid Jack would suggest something like that. “Disney princesses are even worse,” Mac said. “That’s so stereotypical.”

 

“Aw, c’mon, Mac,” Jack pleaded. “What little girl doesn’t want to be a Disney princess?”

 

“Mine,” Mac said with finality. “There’s dozens of costumes here. Surely, we can find something better.” Mac perused the options in front of him. He removed a pirate costume and held it up. “How about this?”

 

Jack eyed it critically, then reached for the costume next to it. “Here’s a girl version. Kelly would look great in it.”

 

“Why are you so hung up on dresses?” Mac asked.

 

“Why are you so against them?” Jack shot back.

 

“Because pirates don’t wear dresses,” Mac retorted.

 

“Sure, they do,” Jack said. “Haven’t you heard of Anne Bonny or Grace O’Malley?”

 

Mac knew he wasn’t going to win this one. “Okay, no pirates either.” He started flipping through the rack. “There’s got to be something here.”

 

“Why don’t we ask Kelly?” Jack suggested.

 

“Good idea.” Mac turned to the child, currently sitting in their cart chewing on a bag of candy. Mac was just grateful she hadn’t ripped it open yet. He was sure miniature candy bars all over the place were in their near future. “Kelly, do you want to be a pirate?”

 

“Hey, no fair prompting!” Jack protested. “Besides, she’d much rather be a princess, wouldn’t you, darlin’?”

 

“No, she wouldn’t!” Mac said. “Tell Daddy Jack you’d rather be a pirate.”

 

“Pukka,” Kelly said.

 

“Puppy?” Mac asked. He found a dog costume and held it up. “Is this what you want, sweetheart?”

 

“No!” Kelly said. “Pukka!”

 

“If it’s not a puppy, what is a pukka?” Jack wanted to know.

 

“I have no idea,” Mac admitted. Even though Kelly was over a year old and was developing quite a vocabulary, sometimes she still didn’t make a lot of sense to the two men—they were improving daily, but they still weren’t fluent in toddler. “Show us what a pukka is, honey.”

 

Kelly reached out her arms, and Mac lifted her out of the cart. She toddled straight past the costumes and grabbed a stuffed pumpkin, immediately putting it to her mouth and sucking.

 

Mac and Jack just stood their, bewildered. “So, a pukka is a pumpkin?” Jack ventured.

 

“I guess so,” Mac said.

 

“How do you get pumpkin from pukka?” Jack wanted to know.

 

Mac shrugged. “Don’t ask me. I think it only makes sense if you’re a toddler.”

 

“So, maybe if she wants a stuffed pumpkin, she wants a pumpkin costume,” Jack suggested. He found one in Kelly’s size and held it up. “What do you think, baby girl?”

 

Kelly took the pumpkin out of her mouth. “No!”

 

Mac and Jack sighed in tandem. Kelly was no help. They flipped through the rack together, rejecting costume after costume. Kelly was content to sit on the floor and suck on her pumpkin while her fathers browsed.

 

“That’s it!” Mac and Jack cried at the same time, hands colliding as they reached for a costume at the same time. Jack drew his hand back, and Mac pulled it out of the rack. It was a red plush dragon costume, complete with spines and a mouth full of teeth, and the perfect size for Kelly.

 

“That’s it!” Jack said.

 

“I think so,” Mac agreed. He held it up to show Kelly. “What do you think?” he asked Kelly.

 

Kelly dropped the pumpkin and clapped her hands. “Dada!”

 

Jack frowned. “Is that daddy or dragon?”

 

“I’m not sure,” Mac said, “but I’m going to take it as agreement.”

 

“Great.” Jack rubbed his hands together. “Now that that’s settled, let’s get decorations. We’re going to have the best haunted house ever.”

 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

Halloween couldn’t come quickly enough for the two men. They kept Kelly’s costume secret, wanting to surprise their friends. They caught Bozer snooping in Kelly’s room at one point, and Riley begged them to tell her every time she came over (which was a lot, since they were working on the haunted house), but the men held fast.

 

Finally, Halloween night came, and it was time for the big reveal. Mac and Jack were taking Kelly out early while the others started with the haunted house, then coming back to help. Riley showed up early. “Can I see her now?”

 

“Nah, they’re still hiding her,” Bozer said. “I’ve been asking for an hour, but I haven’t gotten so much as a peek.”

 

“We agreed, we’re waiting until Matty gets here,” Mac said.

 

Just then the doorbell rang. Mac opened it to reveal the woman herself. “Come on in, Matty, we were just talking about you.”

 

Matty lifted an eyebrow. “Oh, yeah, and what were you saying about me, Blondie?”

 

“We’re waiting to see Kelly,” Bozer explained. “Mac and Jack wouldn’t let us see her until you got here.”

 

“Well, I’m here now,” Matty said, “so let’s see her.”

 

“I bet she’s a princess,” Riley said. “Every little girl wants to be a princess.”

 

Mac was glad Jack wasn’t there to hear that—he was still dressing Kelly. He would just take it as validation of his opinions. There was no way Mac was encouraging that viewpoint.

 

“No, I bet she’s a pirate,” Bozer said. He made slashing motions in the air. “I bet she has an eyepatch and a miniature sword.”

 

“Despite Jack’s best efforts otherwise, there are no swords involved,” Mac said. “I’m not arming a toddler.”

 

“So, she isn’t a pirate, then?” Bozer said, disappointed.

 

Riley nudged him. “See? I told you she was a princess.”

 

“Really, you two,” Matty said, “there’s more costumes than just pirates and princesses. I’m sure Mac and Jack were very creative. Mac probably made something.”

 

“I wish I had,” Mac said, “but textiles aren’t my forte, and metal’s a little heavy for a 14 month old.”

 

“So, what is she?” Bozer asked.

 

“Yeah, tell us. We’ve waited long enough,” Riley pleaded.

 

“Okay,” Mac said. “We did consider both a pirate and a princess, but in the end, we decided they were both too stereotypical.”

 

“So, what did you decide on?” Riley asked. “Don’t keep us waiting.”

 

Mac motioned for Jack to come out of the nursery. “This.”

 

Bozer and Riley oohed and ahhed as Jack appeared holding Kelly in her dragon costume. Even Matty was trying hard not to look like she was melting at the adorableness of it all.

 

“What do you think?” Jack asked, nervously.

 

Riley went up and petted Kelly’s spiny head. “She’s adorable! I love it!”

 

“Yeah, great choice,” Bozer seconded.

 

“Not bad,” Matty acknowledged. Mac and Jack beamed. For her, that was high praise.

 

“We’re glad you like it,” Mac said.

 

“Yeah,” Jack said. He grabbed a plastic pumpkin bucket (he’d gotten the largest size they had, because he said they were going to get a lot of candy. Mac pointed out there was no way Kelly would eat that much. Jack said “Who said Kelly was eating it?”). “Let’s go get some candy.”

 

“Can-ny!” Kelly said.

 

Mac grabbed his jacket and followed his husband and daughter out the door. “You heard the little princess,” he said. “We’ll be back soon.”

 

Mac realized what he said and futilely hoped Jack hadn’t heard. No such luck.

 

“I told you she was a princess!” the other three heard as the little family went down the walk. Their friends just grinned.


End file.
